Media, tech and pop culture

Since dropping out of college in 1995, I've had a hand in creating several companies. Some were successful, some not so much. They include IGN (IPO, acquisition), MyBlogLog (acquisition), Gnip (acquisition) and OneTrueFan (acquisition).

I would love to make an email introduction for you…

by Eric Marcoullier

There are a number of great articles around the web describing how to ask for an email introduction (try here, here and here). We all have our preferences, so I figured I’d record mine here so you’ll have the info you need straight out of the gate.

How I roll

I do double-blind introductions. When you ask for an introduction, I’m going to ask the other person if they have time to chat with you. They can opt out if they’re too busy or not interested. I’ll make an intro when they say yes.

You’re responsible for writing your own copy. I can’t describe your company, work history, grand idea, etc as well as you can. If you leave it up to me, I’ll get frustrated at my inability to communicate and won’t send the introduction.

Say why the other person will be interested. I don’t always know a VC’s portfolio or an acquaintance’s complete background. Please do some research so I’m comfortable that they’re going to get excited about chatting with you.

BCC me when you respond to the introduction. I love you, but I don’t need to observe your scheduling dance

Pro-tips

Send me the intro copy in your initial ask. If I can just forward your email straight to the person you’d like to meet, that’s a thing of beauty.

Have a specific ask for the person with whom you wish to speak. What’s more compelling — “I’d like 30 minutes of your time to tell you about my company” or “I’d like 30 minutes to walk you through my app and get your feedback about our e-commerce integration before we launch next week”?

Follow up with me after you chat with the other person. I don’t care if the meeting went well or crappy. Just send me a three-sentence email that lets me know what happened. The tangibility excites me to make more intros in the future.

I’ll readily admit that I don’t always follow all these rules when requesting my own intros. If you do the above, though, I promise I’ll make every attempt to connect you with whomever you like.

You’ve got the ideal process down bro. Like you, I both ask for and facilitate many intros…and like you, I profess I don’t follow this process every single time. But this is a good reminder to get closer to the mark as often as possible.